Innocent Aims

Part I: Capture and Release

Chapter 4: Invitation

Grandpa walked in to find me in his office. I sat at the spacious desk, with several stacks of neatly organized papers in front of me. He usually wouldn't hesitate to greet me right away, but for now he was silent. This usually meant that he had something that he considered "important" to talk to me about, or was "concerned" about how I was doing. I continued to do what I was doing, writing on the gold-fringed card in front of me, until he cleared his throat.

"Hey Gramps, do you need me to clear out?" I asked. Yeah, that wasn't the kind of awkward thing he wanted to talk to me about, but it would be nice if he only needed me to leave the office.

"No... No, Gary, it's quite alright for you to continue working here, it's no trouble to me at all. But I do have something important to talk to you about. I'm concerned about this new project of your's."

Yeah. Just like I thought. Well, I was spending his money, after all. "Well, if it's any trouble, I can just cancel it. Don't want to burden you with anything."

"Oh, no. No no, it's not the project itself that concerns me. It seems a healthy endeavor, and I'll be quite excited just to observe it. It will be a lot of work, and take plenty of planning, but I can see you've got that under control. Of course, it's no trouble to me. But..."

Now it was really about to begin. Here came the part where Grandpa would pick at every aspect of my existence.

"I need to know what your motive is, Gary. This seems to me like something you'd avoid participating in. Well, I'm certainly pleased to you reaching out to your fellow trainers. You can use these years as an opportunity to form many connections. Ah, the pokemon battle truly does allow you to forge lifelong friendships with your fellow trainers as well as your pokemon," Grandpa seemed to look out into nowhere wistfully as he rambled. Then he cleared his throat again in his discomfort and looked back at me. "Well Gary, is that your motivation?"

I closed my eyes and smiled a moment. Well, I couldn't out and out tell him all of the details behind the reason I came up with this idea. "You know Gramps, I haven't been forging those lifelong friendships at all," I said. Grandpa just nodded, though he slightly furrowed his brow. We'd had conversations about my standoffishness before. "Yeah, I kind of regret it, though. I thought maybe inviting all these trainers I've met in the past... Um, I figured that would help me, well, socialize," I said in a small voice. Socialize was a word Grandpa used a lot. He wished that I'd do more of it. "I mean, it would be a friendly event. Not like those big, competitive tournaments or gym battles where everything's often on the line. It might help everyone... Socialize." It was pretty much the truth, if an abridged and edited version of it.

Grandpa nodded. "I can see you've given it a lot of thought. I imagine that you'll spend a lot of time organizing this. I spoke with Tracey about it, and he said he'd be more than happy to help you."

Tracey? In my mind, the name seemed a little familiar, but it was a minute before I remembered him. Of course, he was grandpa's new and zealous assistant. He'd probably be more than happy to help with the menial jobs. I planned to hire a few extra hands just for the night, but being able to tell Tracey everything to do beforehand would be a lot of help for me. "Great. Tell him thanks, I'm gonna take him up on that offer."

"Wonderful. Well then, I'll be around, but I'll try not to disturb your work."

Yeah. It's me that shouldn't be disturbing his work, but Grandpa can be very passive and accommodating. Not just with me, though. Which made one thing I knew about sound kind of funny... "Hey, Gramps, you know that pikachu you told me about?"

"A pikachu?" he repeated. Of course, he wasn't going to remember just like that.

"Yeah, a really uncooperative, violent one."

"Oh, yes, that one."

Good, now he remembered it. "You didn't end up giving it to one of those newbie trainers you help out, did you?"

"Oh, no, I wouldn't... Wait, in this case, I did exactly that!" Grandpa gave a slight laugh as he remembered it. "Yes, that's what ended up happening. I had no more of the starter pokemon, but I did have that pikachu, of course. I didn't plan to give it to him, but he was so insistent and so enthusiastic about the idea that I thought I might give it a try! Yes... Well, everything worked out with that situation. I thought he might be back at my lab within a few days, but it didn't happen. Pikachu and its trainer are both very happy with the arrangement."

Everything worked out, huh? Oh, if only he knew. Well, if did know, he'd probably be the same accommodating person as he usually was, giving Satoshi advice on training the pikachu while she destroyed the lab. "So, who was this unlucky trainer?" I asked.

"He's actually a childhood friend of your's, Gary. You'd probably remember him."

It seemed weird that even Grandpa remembered this while I didn't. "Who?" I asked.

"Well...." Grandpa seemed to be struggling to remember his name. Grandpa even seemed to have trouble remembering my name at times, so I just waited. "Well... Oh... His name is... Ah....." he paused again. "Well, he'd go by Satoshi, now. I remember discussing with Delia what she was going to name him... It really doesn't seem that long ago."

Well, it would have been surprising if Grandpa had been able to answer this question. I just moved on in the conversation. "Yeah, I know Satoshi. Don't remember him being my childhood friend though," I said.

"Is that right?"

"But Satoshi was the second person to beat me, right before I came back home," I admitted.

"Oh?" Grandpa raised his eyebrow. Just as I'd thought before, he didn't really care much about the idea of my defeat.

"Yeah, I kind of just let him have a type advantage, though. It's no big deal," I said.

He nodded. "I see. Oh, that must have been what he was referring to yesterday, then."

"Yesterday?"

"Well, yesterday I was over at his house having tea, and he did say something about his recent victories. I understand now that it must have the victory over you that he'd been referring to when he'd said that his pikachu had defeated a blastoise."

"He's at home?" I asked. Of course, I'd assumed that he wouldn't be, still on his badge collecting journey and all.

"Oh, yes. He visits his home in Pallet quite often. Much more than you did when you were at his stage."

"Well... I guess I'll visit him, then."

"So, you'll be inviting your victors to this event, then?"

"Well, I'll invite Satoshi. The other one was just a kid. His victory was just a fluke. He probably wouldn't fit in here. I wouldn't want it to seem like I was picking on him or anything just because he beat me."

Grandpa only nodded at me again, though I thought he must have had a thought on that he wouldn't share. Something bothered him but I was supposed to figure out on my own. He was always like that. It pissed me off. Since he had nothing more to say, I just reached for my pokedex, which had likely stored Satoshi's address, unless he'd made it private. "Good luck with organizing things, Gary," my grandpa said to me as I had my head down, absorbed in my work. Then he left.

I crossed off Satoshi's name from my CenterMail list. Originally, I'd planned to send him a message that way, it would show up at whatever Pokemon Center he traveled to. But how much better it would be to just invite him in person. For one thing, it might be more difficult to refuse me face to face. And just getting to see him again... Yeah, that would be nice.

I hurriedly finished writing out an invitation to Satoshi, and then dashed out the door. I hoped he hadn't left town yet. A map led me to the door of the address he was registered under. I really hoped it was still accurate. Just as Satoshi wasn't the type to keep his address private, he probably also wasn't really the type to keep it updated. Well, people didn't move around much here in Pallet, so I took the chance to ring the doorbell at the quaint looking place that I arrived at.

A pleasant-looking woman answered, and she smiled upon seeing me. "Oh! If it isn't little Gary Oak," she said.

Nearly the entire population of Pallet Town knew me as Gary, but this was the first time in a while some had referred to me as little. "Um, good evening," I said. Yeah, it was still possible to be polite when I didn't remember someone's name.

Sure enough, this lady grinned back at my greeting. "I see your grandfather all the time, but it's been a while since you've come down here. So, why have you come so far out of your way?"

"Well..." I paused. I usually wasn't social, and this bothered some people, so this question was a little awkward. "I just came to speak to Satoshi."

"Satoshi," she repeated thoughtfully. "Of course you've come to visit him. You two were such close friends, after all."

Not just childhood friends, but close friends now? Well, this woman was obviously exaggerating her happy mood, she could also be exaggerating our friendship. Or maybe Satoshi himself had, I thought with a smirk.

"Come in." She opened up the door wider and invited me in. "He's out back training, I'll be sure to invite him in." As I walked in, she walked off.

As I walked in, I was surprised at who I saw. It wasn't Satoshi, but- "Brock?"

Brock wore a frilly pink apron and stood in front of a cutting board where he'd been preparing some vegetables. He seemed surprised and he saw me but not really that ashamed of his dress. "Shigeru," he said as he realized who I was. "It's been a while, huh?"

"Yeah," I said. Brock had been the leader of one of the first gyms I'd beaten. What a serious guy he'd been, all business from when I'd entered to when I'd beat him, right up to the point when I'd went out the door. But what was he doing here now, in Satoshi's kitchen, wearing pink? I recalled that Satoshi had mentioned Brock, now it was obvious that he meant this Brock, but were they really such close friends that he'd be here?

Before I could ask him about it, Satoshi entered the room himself, his pikachu on his shoulder. He looked even better than the last time I'd seen him, likely because he made sure to take care of himself better while he was home. "Gary!" he shouted. "Why are you here! What do you want?"

Ah, how blunt he was. Satoshi wasted no time with pleasantries. Others might find this kind of thing to be abrasive, but I actually felt more relaxed than I had around the unknown woman and Brock. Exchanging hellos and good-byes was so tedious, at least we both had a mutual understanding on that. I smiled at Satoshi before I spoke.

Satoshi looked away from me and even seemed to pout. "I don't think I'm ready for a rematch yet," he said. "Didn't I tell you it might be a while before we faced each other again?"

"Rematch? No," I said. I held up the envelope to Satoshi, and he snatched it away.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's an invitation to my own personal pokemon tournament," I said.

"Your own personal tournament?" he said. I smirked again at how intimidated he seemed. "How can you even do something like that?"

"Anyone could," I said honestly. "Though I doubt anyone's would be as good as mine." I was inviting so many top trainers, after all. "I can count on seeing you there, then?"

"No, I can't go. I'm not ready to face you yet." Satoshi said.

"Man, what an ego you have there," I said.

"What?"

"You're assuming you'll even get to battle me. I know I'll make to the end, but how about you? You might not even make it through one round. Yeah, maybe it's best that you decline," I taunted.

Satoshi and his pikachu both had matching frowns, and I could tell Satoshi was giving it some thought. "Well... I have to train for my next gym badge, anyway."

"Why do you think I invited you?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Satoshi, there are going to be so many gym leaders there. I'll be inviting every gym leader I've ever beaten, plus some. Oh, and many will show up, I've talked to them they think it'll be a blast. You could get a chance to find information on them, get an advantage in battle before you even have one."

"Are you saying my pokemon aren't enough of an advantage?" Satoshi asked.

Now that comment annoyed me. Who did he think he was talking to? There would always be someone with a better, more well-trained pokemon with more powerful attacks, no matter who you were. Of course training pokemon alone wasn't enough. How did he think I had remained undefeated for so long? "Yes," I said. "That's exactly what I'm saying.

"Pika!" his Pikachu said. Sparks shot out around her cheeks now as she glared at me. That rat really didn't like me.

But neither did her trainer. He stared back at me just as angrily. I felt a little disappointed that I'd messed up yet again, but I couldn't just have let that last comment slide. "Well, then I'll just-" he began.

"Wait," Brock interrupted and put a hand on Satoshi's shoulder. "Listen for once. Shigeru's right," he said. "Most trainers actually come into a gym after doing a little homework. Just like how my advice has helped you in several of your gym battles."

Satoshi now looked a little sheepish, and his pikachu had also calmed down. "Yeah?" he said.

"That's right," Brock continued. "Back in Pewter Gym, the trainers that did have this knowledge definitely had an advantage. Shigeru here seemed to know my pokemon's moves before I even said them. It wasn't just his well-trained pokemon that beat me."

"Yeah?"

"So, you should go," Brock said.

Satoshi's expression softened, and he seemed ready to agree. I was pleased, but also felt a little envy over the casualness and comfortableness of their conversation.

"But..." Brock began.

But? I held my breath. Brock had been helping me out until now, I hoped he hadn't thought of some good reason for Satoshi to keep away.

Brock turned to me. "Where's my invitation? You said you were inviting every gym leader you'd fought!"

Oh, so that was all. Good. "It's back at my grandpa's lab. How was I supposed to guess you'd be here? I was going to send it to Pewter City."

"Oh, no! I'll be over to pick it up in person," Brock insisted.

I hadn't been lying to Satoshi before, Brock's enthusiastic response was pretty typical of the gym leaders I'd contacted so far. It looked like this event might turn into a competitions between gym leaders, not that they were the only ones I invited. I just imagined that none of them would want to get shown up by the others. If it turned into that kind of thing, I didn't mind. There was only one reason I wanted to have this competition.

I turned away from Brock and back toward Satoshi. "So, Satoshi. Can I take it that you'll be there?" I asked.

"Um... Yeah," he said.

"Great. I'll see you in about a month then," I said.

"Yeah," he said. "Oh, and I'll be ready then," he insisted. "Maybe even for you... No, definitely, we'll prepare for beating you!"

"Pika!" his pikachu shouted in agreement.

As I walked home, I felt satisfied that I'd still be able to follow through with my original plan. Everything involved with planning, and then meeting and greeting at the actual event would be tedious, but at least Satoshi would still be there. Maybe I'd get an opportunity to get close to him.

Or maybe not, I considered darkly. After all, I hadn't even been able to convince Satoshi to come in the first place, it had someone who was already close to him. I thought even more about Brock, and ended up feeling even more envious. He seemed to be around Satoshi so much, and could even say things that I'd wanted to without angering him.

I was even more jealous when, the next day, Satoshi and Brock arrived at my door, together. They had on backpacks, obviously ready to take some trip together. Satoshi nodded at me with some vacant, day-dreamy expression, and Brock just grinned. "Hey, Shigeru! You know why I'm here."

"I don't see why you needed to stop here," Satoshi said.

"Um... Yeah, your invitation. I'll just go up to the office and get it," I said. Satoshi was still a little angry at me, maybe. And why was he hanging out with this gym leader, anyway? "Why don't you come with me?" I suggested to Brock.

Brock followed me without a question. As we both walked down the hall, I looked behind and saw Satoshi now sit down by the door, looking bored. I walked quickly ahead, onto the office. When we got there, I pretended to not know exactly where I'd placed Brock's invitation, and just casually leafed through the various stacks. "Hey, why's a talented trainer like you spending time with Satoshi, anyway?" I asked.

"I don't know, really. A- That is, Satoshi, wasn't the most talented trainer I've fought for sure, but something about him was, um, inspiring," Brock said. I raised an eyebrow, and he continued. "Yeah, he really helped me out, and I just kind of thought it would be fun to follow around a new trainer, you know? I do think Satoshi has a lot of potential, but he also needs a lot of direction. It's really rewarding to see when you've made a difference with someone, and I think I can with him."

"Hm," I said. The last part seemed innocent enough, but I still needed to know if what I suspected was true. I picked up Brock's invitation now. "Hey, don't take this the wrong way or anything," I said, even knowing it could certainly be taken a negative way. "But are you gay?"

"What?" Brock seemed bewildered at the question. "Oh... No. Just because I hang around- No, no, no. It doesn't bother me that he swings that way, but we're just friends."

I handed Brock his invitation. "That who swings that way?" I asked.

"Well- You mean, you didn't know? Then why did you..."

I just let Brock sit in his own confusion about why I'd wonder if something was going on between him and the guy that spent so much close and personal time with. It was because I wanted to be more close and personal with him, of course. He didn't really need to know that. I walked silently toward the door, and he followed me.

Satoshi stood, looking eager to go. Before Brock could get to there and lead him away from me for now, I walked up to him and took the time to give him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Good luck, Satoshi," I said.

He seemed surprised, but then his expression reflected his excitement and determination. "Thanks, Gary!" he said. "I'll be sure to train hard. I'm not going to disappoint my rival."

As Satoshi waved good-bye and walked away with Brock, I put on a pleasant expression. One moment of positive interaction was a start, anyway. Maybe that would be the moment that would stick in his mind the entire month. I just hoped at the least that he wouldn't be too disappointed himself when he attended and realized just how little of a difference a month of even the most intense training would make.